Dugdale claims magazine ‘outed’ her
● Ex-party leader regrets not having ‘complete control’ of information
Former Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale has claimed she was “outed” by a magazine before she had publicly revealed she is gay.
She said she had to “make some phone calls” to inform people about her sexuality before they read the interview and regretted not having “complete control” over the process.
Ms Dugdale, who quit as the leader of Scottish Labour this week, said she asked for her quotes on her sexuality not to be included in an interview with the Fabian Review in 2016 – a claim disputed by the journalist who wrote the piece.
Kezia Dugdale has claimed she was “outed” by a magazine before she had publicly revealed she is gay.
The former Scottish Labour leader said she had to “make some phone calls” to inform people about her sexuality before they read the interview, and said she regretted not having “complete control” over the process.
Her claim was made in an interview for the BBC which has just been broadcast but was recorded before she made her sudden announcement to quit as Scottish Labour leader.
The Lothian MSP was questioned for an edition of the Victoria Derbyshire programme that talked to politicians about their sexuality and the process of coming out.
Ms Dugdale said she asked for her quotes on her sexuality not to be included in an interview with the Fabian Review in 2016 – a claim disputed by the journalist who wrote the piece.
The politician told the programme: “It wasn’t the first time I’d been asked[ by journalists] about my sexuality. I would always answer honestly, and then I would say, ‘I’d prefer you didn’t use that … I don’t think it matters’.
“Up until that day, everybody had respected that, and then that one journalist had decided no, it was a story.”
Mary Riddell, the journalist who conducted the interview, said: “During my Fabian interview with Kezia Dugdale, she volunteered that she had a female partner and spoke briefly about that relationship as a source of strength.
“I had no knowledge before the interview either of her sexuality or whether she was in a relationship. At no point during the interview or afterwards did she ask me not to publish her comments, which were recorded with her agreement.
“Nor has she ever complained to me that her on-therecord comments relating to her relationship had been published.”
A Fabian Society spokeswoman said: “We are very sorry that Kezia Dugdale was upset by the interview that appeared in the fa bi an review in 2016. This wide-ranging and comprehensive on-the- record interview was conducted by an experienced broadsheet journalist who followed usual journalistic practice.”
Meanwhile, in the same TV programme Conservative minister Sir Alan Duncan claimed being gay led to him being “blackballed” from a senior role early in his career. Sir Alan said he was blocked from becoming a whip during John Major’s government.